The Boy and The Warrior
by Lily Bookmarks
Summary: They were an odd pair, a short, spiky haired boy and a sickly thin archer. But together, they might just send the boy home. Rated T for language. OCs welcome for entry.
1. Chapter 1

**Moien! This just came to me out of the blue, thus be prepared for nothing to make sense.**  
**Name: Mira Katsuya**  
**Gender: Female**  
**Build: Thin, almost to an unhealthy looking degree**  
**Skin color: Pale**  
**Age: 17**  
**Eye color: Intense blue**  
**Hair color: Ratty reddish brown, always slightly messy from being in a ponytail a lot**  
**Personality: It takes a lot to crack her tough exterior, but if one manages, she's a real softie with a heart of gold. Very loyal**  
**Best weapon: Bow and arrow**  
**Clothing: White T shirt and flare bottom jeans**  
**I'm accepting OCs for the village scenes, so follow the above format, and I'll consider each entry. Mods used include XL Biomes, Pams Food Mod and Balkans weapons mod. Also, I apologies for the squished text. I've tried to fix it, but without success. Until I find a solution, I plead you to bear with it.**

Chapter 1  
My name is Mira. Everybody at the village calls me the Enderwoman, due to my sickly appearance. I've never been able to put on weight or build muscle, no matter how hard I try. As a result, some of the older warriors pick on me for my weak appearance.  
I'm a warrior for my village, called Domino Dorf. Our village was founded in a valley so narrow that some buildings were built into the side of the two mountains. We're some of the last survivors of a nuclear war so great that life was forever changed. The landscape healed, sure, but radiation brought the dead to life, magnified wolf spiders to deadly sizes, and created abominations of nature. But the survivors were great in number for such a tragedy, and we banded together in communities like Domino Dorf.  
Most of the residents of Domino Dorf were nice survivors, always helping each other out because we only had each other. However, there were some exceptions to this, one of them being my boss, General Murray.  
And this was how this whole incident got started.  
"MIRA! Get your ass in here!" the sharp voice of the General barked. I groaned. I hated General Murray, and I was pretty sure he hated me too. I entered his office to find his piercing green eyes glaring at me behind desheveled black hair.  
"Mira, you're set to patrol Ravine Hillside today." he said mundanely. I stood agape at him. Ravine Hillside was not only miles away, but a very dangerous route. It was a hillside ravaged by ravines, a constant reminder of our origins.  
"You've got to be kidding me! Sir, you know how the ravines are! I won't make it back until sundown!"  
"Exactly. That's why I'm sending you there. Now go!"  
I was fuming silently as I went to the barracks and prepared my bow and arrows. My bow was made of redwood strung with spider silk. I slung a quiver of flint tipped arrows over my shoulder and headed outside.  
The streets of Domino Dorf were always busy. Small children played in the cobblestone streets while adults hung laundry on lines strung high across the streets. Others walked about, doing their daily business.  
I left the village and headed north. Right over the mountain was Ravine Hillside.  
Ravine Hillside, when it had any land to give, was covered in thick forest. There are a few bare cliffs, but the majority was giant fissures in the ground, showing the inside of the land.  
I wandered around the premises, shooting random monsters and avoiding the ravines. There was really nothing to do here, or so I thought. As I was making my last round, I heard something.  
"H-help!" the voice was high, but it was definitely a guy. I rushed towards the sound, and found myself on one of the bare cliffs. I saw a human figure being cornered by two creepers, green exploding creatures. I drew my bow and let an arrow fly. The first creeper fell, confusing the other long enough for me to put an arrow in the back of it's head. I approached the person, an arrow drawn in my bow.  
I took a moment to drink in his appearance. For one, his hair was crazy. It was a black base with fuscia tips and golden, erratic bangs. On top of that, it all stood in jagged points on his head. Second, his outfit was strange. It looked like the Japanese schoolboy outfits I saw in history books as a kid, but with leather elements added.  
But perhaps the strangest part of his ensemble was his necklace. It was a large, blocky golden pyramid with a leather chain wrapped around it.  
But he was scared and alone, so I asked him one question."Who the hell are you?"

**Well, that was interesting. Remember, send in those OCs!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

He looked at me with those wide, purple eyes of his. He looked terrified.  
"Well? Answer me. At least say something." I pried.  
"Wh-what were those things?" he asked.  
"Creepers. Green sons of bitches that hiss and explode. You're lucky I got them." I said, lifting the arrow away from him and putting it back in my quiver. I offered him a hand, and he took it. The minute I touched his hand, I didn't feel quite right. It's as if there was something more to this boy that I couldn't pinpoint.  
I looked up at the sky and saw the sun descending.  
"Alright, since you seem to be alone out here, I'll make you a deal. I'll take you back to my village if you tell me about yourself. Deal?"  
He nodded. I started back towards Domino Dorf.  
"Let's start with an easy one. What's your name?" I asked.  
"My name's Yugi." he said.  
"I'm Mira." I replied. "Where are you from?"  
"Domino City."  
"Huh. Never heard of it." I looked at him. "You're not from here, are you?"  
"Well, where exactly is here?"  
"You're on New Earth. It's basically Earth but 90% of the human population has been wiped out."  
"WHAT?!" He looked mortified.  
"Don't blow your lid! There were a lot of survivors, and we banded together into groups, like where I live. Hey! There it is now!" I said, running ahead.  
The sun was just setting over West Mountain, casting an orange glow over the town.  
"Yugi, welcome to Domino Dorf."


	3. Chapter 3

**Alright, I made a mistake. I'm using the Oasis Mod Pack, not just the listed mods. I apologize.**

Chapter 3  
"It's... Beautiful..." he said.  
"We can't stay for long. The monsters will be coming soon."  
"Monsters? What do you mean by monsters?"  
"Zombies, skeletons, endermen, and worst of all, spiders."  
"Spiders? Isn't that a little bit of an overreaction?"  
I looked at him like he was mad. "I don't know where you're from, but your spiders must have been smaller. How big were the spiders in your world?"  
"On average, about the size of a nickel. How big are the spiders here?"  
"Cave spiders, including leg span, are about as big as a block of material, a 1X1 cube. Regular spiders are four times that, making them about a 2x1 rectangle." I drew a diagram with a stick in the dirt. He just stared at it in horror.  
"Now you know how I live." I said, stamping out the diagram. "We need to get going. Do you trust me?"  
He looked up at me, confused. "What?" I held out my hand.  
"Do you trust me?" I asked again. He nodded and took my hand. Again, the strange feeling shot through my body. It made my knees weak. I ran off the cliff and jumped.  
"Then JUMP!" I shouted. Yugi just screamed.  
We landed in a deep pool of water, making a huge splash. I kicked my way up to the surface, pulling Yugi up with me. I swam over to the edge of the pool and pushed myself up, and he followed closely.  
As we walked through the streets, whispers and small laughs lingered.  
"What are they laughing at?" he asked.  
"Just keep walking. If we ignore them, they'll go away." I said through grit teeth.  
"Hey, Enderwoman! Where do you think you're going?"  
That voice stopped me dead in my tracks. I didn't even have to turn around.  
The voice belonged to Boetius Flannery, the archery prodigy. She was tall, sleek, and light on her feet. She saw me as a threat to her title, and that's why she picked on me.  
"You haven't paid your fine yet." she said, holding out her hand. She wanted my arrows.  
"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, Bo. I'm not giving you any arrows. I made them, they're mine."  
I could see her fuming. She hated being called Bo. "You better watch yourself, Enderwoman. Or else that fragile frame of yours will break." She shoved me back against a wall. "Now give me your arrows or else."  
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Yugi said.  
"Stay out of this, Yugi. This is my fight. I'm not gonna drag you into it." Boetius glanced at him and smirked.  
"Heh, who's this, Enderwoman? Your boyfriend?"  
I felt my face heat up. "He's not my boyfriend. I found him on my rounds today."  
"Whatever. You gonna hand those over or what?"  
"No!"  
"Very well, then. You know the price." she smirked. She punched me in the gut, making me spill my lunch.  
"You'd better have those arrows for me tomorrow, or I'll embarrass you in front of your boyfriend again. " She said, laughing as she walked away.  
"Mira, are you okay?" Yugi asked.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm tougher than I look." I said, getting up. "Look, I don't want to drag anyone into this, especially you. I need to fight my own battles."  
"But she's twice your size! Are you sure you can handle this?"  
"I'm sure. Come on, I'll show you around."  
I showed him all around the village, and we eventually ended up at my house, which was one of those in a cliffside.  
"You live in a mountain?"  
"Yeah. Sure, it's not the best place in the village, but it's got a wicked view. Take a look."  
He went through the dining room and out onto the balcony.  
"Wow, Mira! This must have cost a fortune! How did you manage?"  
"Here in Domino Dorf, we make our own houses. I just carved it out myself. It took countless hours and three iron pickaxes."  
I took out some vegetables, bread, and a chicken and started preparing two sandwiches.  
"You must be hungry from today. How about one of my homemade chicken sandwiches?" I stuck the chicken in the furnace.  
"That sounds great!" he said.  
"Go on, take a load off. There's a couch, a table to sit at, and some other stuff. Sit wherever you like."  
He sat down at the kitchen table. I took out the chicken and prepared the sandwiches.  
"So what was it like where you lived?" I asked, setting his sandwich down on a plate in front of him.  
"It was nice. I had great friends and a pretty nice life. We went on a lot of crazy adventures."  
"Wow. Your life sounds so cool! My life is so bad most of the time. My boss is a jerk and a favoritist, Boetius won't leave me alone, and I can't ever seem to find time to read my books, nevermind make friends." I took a bite of my sandwich and swallowed.  
We talked for a long time. I learned a lot about where Yugi came from, and it sounded like a nice place. His friends sounded like nice people. I couldn't help but have a little envy. I heard the grandfather clock in the living room strike ten.  
"Oh man, it's getting late. I've gotta make a bed for you!" I said, picking up the now empty plates and putting them in the dishwasher. I rushed over to one of my chests and pulled out three wood blocks and three wool blocks.  
"Wait, you're going to make an actual bed? Won't that take hours, maybe even days?" he asked.  
"Crafting stuff is a little different here. I just put this here, and this here, and we have a bed!" I said, holding it in my hand.  
"It's so tiny."  
"Not for long. Follow me." I said, walking to my room. I pushed my bed over to the edge of my room.  
"You ready to have your mind blown?" I said. I plonked the bed down on the other side of the room, and it grew to full size.  
"Wow! How is that possible?!'' he asked.  
"Just the wonder of the universe, I guess. I never really thought about it much." I said. It had started to rain.  
"Damn. I hate rain. I hope it blows over by morning." I said, getting a pair of pajamas from my dresser and heading to the bathroom. I changed and threw my clothes into the laundry basket. I walked back down the hall and got in bed.  
"'Night, Yugi." I muttered. I barely heard a reply before I fell asleep.  
3rd Person POV  
The whole village was peaceful. So peaceful, in fact, that no one noticed the strange boy walking around, looking for the archery range.  
This boy bore many similarities to Yugi. Same outfit, same necklace, same hairstyle. But there were also some key differences. There were more golden bangs sticking up. His eyes were narrowed. He was taller. The boy also had an air of confidence about him. He was very different from Yugi, yet the two could be mistaken for twins.  
"Grr, take that, Mira!" The shouts of Boetius Flannery as she launched arrow after arrow into a sack of grain pasted with a crude drawing of Mira mixed with the pitter patter of hard rainfall echoed from the archery range.  
"Hello Bo." A deep voice reverberated through the area. She turned around slowly.  
"No one calls me- Hey wait a minute! You're that wimp Mira found in the wilderness, aren't you? Beat it!" she yelled.  
"Not quite. I want to play a little game with you, Bo. A Shadow Game. If you win, You go free. If I win, however, it's up to me to decide your fate. We'll even play a variant of your game: Archery."  
Boetius smirked. "If it's Archery we're playing, you're making a big mistake! I'm the prodigy of this village! Not even that bitch Mira has beaten me! You're on!"  
The boy smirked. His confident aura darkened and surrounded the range. A simple birch wood bow and a single arrow appeared in his hands.  
"Here's how the game works. We each get one arrow. Whomever hits closest to the center of the target wins." he said.  
"Too easy!" Boetius said, and let her one arrow fly. It hit the outer yellow ring. "Beat that!"  
The boy said nothing, just drew his bow and let his arrow fly. It hit dead center.  
"But how?! You're nothing!" she stammered. The boy turned to her, an eye symbol glowing yellow on his forehead.  
"A Shadow Game reveals a person's true character. What is revealed to me is how I determine your punishment. Now face your Penalty Game!"  
A flash of yellow light enveloped the range. For a moment, nothing happened. Then Boetius doubled over in pain. Slowly, a few arrows punctured from beneath her skin, as if they were growing out of her bones. Crimson blood leaked as she watched in horror what was being done to her. She screamed in a mix of horror and pain.  
The boy, meanwhile, wore a smirk as he walked away. He had done his job, which was to protect his host and those associated with him. He made his way back to Mira's home and into her room, where Yugi was sleeping.  
The boy cared deeply for his host. Some might even call it love. With a gentle caress of his host's face, he disappeared back into Yugi's necklace.  
Mira's POV  
I woke up to sunlight, thank god. Today felt... Different. I felt like there was something missing.  
I made my way to the kitchen and started making my favorite breakfast: Bacon and eggs. I made some for Yugi too. The smell must have woken him up, because soon he was at the table.  
"'Morning, Yugi. Sleep well?" I asked, trying to fry up another egg.  
"Not really. I had a nightmare." That got my full attention.  
"Really? What about?" I sat down at the table.  
"I think that Flannery girl might be hurt."  
"Bo? Nah. She may be entirely deserving of a cruel death, but she's a tough old bird. And even if she did get hurt bad, she'll probably be bugging me again in no time. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." I said.  
"Lets hope so." he said. We ate our breakfast with little more discussion, and I cleared our plates. I dug out my old leather armor and handed it to Yugi.  
"What's this for?" he asked.  
"if I don"t sign you up in the guild today, the truant officers are going to be on my tail like nobody's business. What kind of weapon do you like? Bow? Warhammer? Battleaxe?"  
"But I don't want to fight anything!"  
"Neither did I. I wanted to work in the mountain gardens when I was young. But the town law states that every child of the village from ages 7 to 18 must be trained in at least one weapon to ensure a strong fighting force is ready in the event of a siege. Its like school. I don't like it either, but I can't do anything about it. So, I'll ask you again. What kind of weapon do you like?"  
"...Are there any staffs?"  
"I have this Diamond Spear." I said, pulling out said spear.  
"Alright. But I'm not killing anything."  
"You don't have to. You just have to be trained to kill. I'll make sure you don't get assigned to a killing job." I handed him the spear.  
"You ready to go to the guild?" I said, opening the door. He nodded, holding his spear in hand. He had all the armor except the helmet on.  
We made our way down main street and to the guild. Something was up today. Instead of whispering about me, the attention seemed to have shifted to Yugi.  
"Hey, isn't that the guy..."  
"Yeah, that's him. Stay close to me. He's dangerous..."  
It made me nervous. What was up? I tried to brush it off as we entered the guild.  
"Hey, Mary. We've got a new recruit. I need to speak to General Murray."  
Mary looked up with that bored expression of hers. She was an older woman, 35 the last time I checked. She had black hair and cat eye glasses.  
"General Murray is in his office, as usual. Go ahead." she grunted. I walked down a hallway behind her, one I had walked down many times before. But instead of hearing my name and some profanity, all I heard was profanity. I knocked on the door and it opened by itself.  
"General Murray, I'm here for my assignment, and I brought a new recruit down to get registered."  
"Whatever. Your route today is around the village. But first, I need to take these flowers to Boetuis. She's in the hospital."  
My eyes widened. "Please tell me she's just visiting someone."  
General Murray shook his head. "I fear our best archer has been incapacitated."  
I put my hands on his desk. "What do you mean 'Incapacitated?'"  
"Something about mental trauma and arrows. I don't know. I'm too busy to take them over myself, that's why I'm telling you to."  
I looked nervously at Yugi, then took the flowers off his desk. As we walked to the hospital, a lump formed in my throat. Was Yugi's dream coming true?  
I didn't like hospitals. They were eerie and abnormally clean and I may have watched one too many Grudge movies when I was ten.  
I walked up to the receptionist and asked her which room Bo was in. He said she was in room 573. We walked up 5 flights of stairs and knocked on the door.  
"Come in." a familiar voice beckoned. I entered the room to find Doctor Eliza Momoka over a bedridden Boetius Flannery, jotting down notes feverishly. Boetuis was fitted with an IV and a heart monitor, which was beeping rather slowly. She had bandages up and down her arms, a bit of crimson blood bleeding through.  
"I brought these on the orders of General Murray. What's happened to her?" I asked, setting the flowers on her bedside table. Doctor Momoka's long black hair, while held in a high ponytail and tucked over her uniform's hat, was disheveled and hanging over her red eyes, like she had been jotting down notes all night.  
"She had arrows lodged in her arms and legs, which I removed in surgery. But there were a few...strange things about this case."  
"Like what?" Yugi asked.  
"Well, for starters, this wasn't just a few stray arrows. There were arrows and arrowheads everywhere, even under the skin. She also suffered severe mental trauma, probably from knocking her head off the pavement, and has been in a comatose state ever since. But the strangest thing is that all the arrows and arrowheads were facing away from the bone, even the ones found under the skin. It's as if arrows were growing out of her bones."  
I exchanged another nervous glance at Yugi.  
"Do you know who did this?" I asked.  
"I'm a doctor, not a forensic scientist. I only have rumors to go by, and the rumors point to your friend there." She jabbed her pen at Yugi.  
"What are you saying?"  
"I'm saying that rumor has it your friend there attacked Ms Flannery during her late night practice."  
My mind was racing at this revelation. His dream had come true. And if Bo was in a comatose state, she wouldn't be bothering me for a while.  
"Yugi, can I see you outside for a minute?"

**Ooh, we get a cliffhanger! What's gonna happen next? Don't forget to send in those OCs! I can't get this done without them!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Moien! It's been a while since I wrote for The Boy And The Warrior, so long that I had to look back and see where I was!**

''Yugi, I want you to tell me right now if you know anything about what's happening to Bo." I said worriedly. We were inside a janitor's closet.

"Mira, I swear if I knew anything about what was going on, I would've told you already." he said. I could see in his eyes that he was telling the truth. He looked just as shocked at today's events as I was.

"And you're 100% positive?" I asked. He nodded. We exited the closet.

"Well, then there's only one thing I can think of. We have to go to the library.''

Library

"Come on! Where is it?" I muttered, practically running along the book shelves.

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Yugi asked.

"We're looking for a book on Japanese Yokai. It's all we have to go by." I said. After minutes of searching, Yugi pulled out a dusty old red book with Japanese writing on it.

"Is this the one?" he asked.

"Yes! Let me see it." I replied, taking the book and flipping to the index, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"I, I, I,... Here it is! Page 573..." I muttered, flipping to the page.

"Here we are! Ikiryo: A Japanese monster or spirit manifestation of a living person's extreme resentment or other negative feelings. Also known as a grudge spirit, these spirits are near impossible to contain and banish. They will act on one's resentment towards an individual and make their thoughts truth by torturing the resented one, most of the time without the knowledge of the host."

"That's horrible!" Yugi said.

"The only way to destroy an Ikiryo is to find the host and make sure that he or she banishes his or her bad feelings." I said, closing the book.

"You think I have an Ikiryo inside me? But I don't have any resent for her!" he said nervously.

"It's all I can think of. If it's not an Ikiryo, then I have no idea what's going on. There's instructions for a seance in this book. We should perform one tonight and see whether or not we can make things right." I said.

I checked out the book and headed to my post. After an uneventful day of watching over the town, we went back to my apartment and prepared for the seance.

"...Mira, why are you dressed like that?" Yugi asked, sticking red, blue, and green tallow candles on a round table. I was clad in a long white gown and had a headband with a triangular piece of paper stuck in it. My hair was down and brushed.

"The book said that this outfit was good for channeling spirits. Besides, this is my favorite gown!" I said, twirling around in a circle. I took a piece of chalk and drew a pentagram on the table.

"According to the instructions, we'll need an object of the assumed host's possession. Is it okay of we use that necklace of yours?"

"The Millennium Puzzle?"

"Is that what that's called? I was going to suggest your choker, but that works too." I said.

He looked a little pained as he removed the Puzzle from his neck and placed it gently in the middle of the table.

"This seance isn't going to destroy the Puzzle, right?"

"What? No, I don't think so. Not unless something drastic happens." I said, lighting some incense and placing them over bottles of water, the scent of sand wood filling the air. I turned off the light and started the incantation.

"Boetius furanarī o ba~tsu shita Ikiryo, watashi wa anata wa watashitachi ga anata ni hanasu koto ga dekiru yō ni watashitachi no mae ni hyōji sa reru yō ni tanomu!"*

Suddenly, the candles and incense went out. The Puzzle started to glow and rattle. I bright, almost blinding golden light filled the room. When it subsided, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Floating above the table was a transparent man who looked like Yugi if he were a few years older. He looked stern, with his narrowed eyes. He was kind of hot. Yugi was in a bigger shock than I was.

"How and why have you drawn me out of the Millennium Puzzle?" His deep voice filled the room.

"Are you the Ikiryo that punished a girl by the name of Boetuis Flannery?" I asked.

"I am not an Ikiryo, but I did give a Penalty Game to a girl named Boetius Flannery."

"A Penalty Game?" I muttered, thinking hard. I remember reading about something like that a while ago, but I couldn't remember what I had read.

"Y-Yami? Could that really be you?" Yugi asked nervously. The spirit turned to face him. The spirit's face seemed to light up in pure elation.

"Aibou?"

"Mou Hitori no Boku**! You remember me!" Yugi cried in joy. If the spirit wasn't intangible, Yugi could have tackled him to the ground in a hug.

"I take it you two know each other?" I asked.

"We were the best of friends when he was bound to the Puzzle, but he had to leave so he could pass on." Yugi explained. "It's so good to see you again!"

"The feeling is mutual. I never thought I would see you again!"

I smirked. These two shared a bond unlike any I had ever seen before. I was tempted to call it love, but I barely knew these two.

"You know, it's not everyday I witness a relationship like yours." I said. Yugi blushed.

"What? But we're not..."

"I've never seen such a strong friendship between two people before. It's so inspiring." I said. Yugi let out a sigh of relief and laughed nervously.

"Now back to business. While its nice that you gave Bo what she deserves, it was very wrong. Is there any way to fix it?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't take back a Penalty Game. The only known way to remove a Penalty Game is to kill me, and I'm already dead."

"There's got to be another way! It's my fault she even picks on me in the first place!" I said. Then something dawned on me. The Keepers. Maybe they knew something about this!

"Alright, I have an idea. But it's my last resort. The Keepers have collected more knowledge than anyone. Maybe one of them knows how to remove a Penalty Game!"

"The Shadow Games existed more than 5000 years ago. It's highly unlikely that they possess knowledge of the Shadow Games." Yami said.

"But that"s just it! The Keepers have kept the secrets of all the lands, from the names of Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs to the secret of silk for the Chinese Emperors. If anyone knows about the Shadow Games, its them!" I said.

"If you knew about this, why was it your last resort?" Yugi asked.

"Because they're huge jerks. If you don't do something just the way they tell you, they'll never trust you again. But that's another story. I say we go there tomorrow and see if they have a solution." I gave the couple a pained look.

"We need to end the seance now. Yugi, say goodbye to your friend for now."

"Do I have to?" he asked. I gave him a stern but sad look. Those eyes of his were almost at tears.

"Tell you what. As soon as I find a way for Yami to have a physical body or bind his spirit to an object, you'll be the first to know. But until then, we'll have to have regular seances. Does that seem fair?"

"I guess so." he said. he gave Yami one last attempt at a hug. "Goodbye Yami! I'll see you soon!"

"As will I." Yami said. Maybe it was just me, but the faintest smile seemed to play upon his lips. I clasped my hands in prayer and read aloud the chant to send Yami back.

"Seishin, watashi wa anata no kyūkeisho ni modotte suru yō ni irai suru. Watashi wa, watashitachi o hōmon shite itadaki arigatōgozaimasu."

The Puzzle began to rattle again. Another flash of golden light filled the room. When it subsided, Yami was gone. The candles and incense mysteriously relit themselves.

"Well that was an adventure and a half, huh Yugi?" I said happily. But Yugi didn't look so good. He was just staring at the floor on the verge of tears.

"What's wrong, Yugi?" I asked.

"It's been so long since I've seen him...He hasn't changed a bit..." he murmured. Tears spilled from his eyes.

"Yugi, don't cry. We'll see him again very soon, I promise. But for now, we both need a good night's rest."

I erased the pentagram on the table with my hand and blew out the candles, picking them off the table. When I took the candles back to their cabinets, I saw Yugi take the Puzzle from the table and put it around his neck.

I learned today that spirits were real. But I also learned that Yugi was a very fragile person. It only took so much to break him. I had to be careful.

**I know, corny ending. This would have been up sooner, but I was at summer camp with no feasible Internet.**


	5. Chapter 5

The next day, Yugi and I stood outside a large marble building partially buried in the side of the West mountain. It resembled a Roman Pantheon, complete with Latin writing. As we approached the entrance, two guards stopped us.

"What business do you have here?" The first asked.

"I've come seeking knowledge on the Dark World for the benefit of my friend."

"This is a holy site, dumbass. Go to the next town if you want a necromancer." The second huffed.

"Let them in." A light voice stated.

"Priestess Caroline!" The guards gasped, uncrossing their spears so that she could pass through.

Caroline was an old friend of mine, even though she was a good 3 years older than me. She had wavy black hair and green eyes. She was dressed in the usual garb of the priesthood, a long white robe and a circlet that sported a blood red gem. I was surprised that her fraternal twin, Laura, wasn't with her.

"Mira, I haven't seen you in a while. And who's this? You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend now." She said with a smile. My face flushed bright red.

"Er... He's not my boyfriend." I said, fiddling with the end of my ponytail.

"I know, I'm just messing with ya! Actually, I'm kinda glad you came. I need your help with something." She said.

We followed her through the foyer and through the long winding hallways.

"What do you need our help with?" I asked.

"A few days ago, Laura locked herself in the basement, saying that she needed a few hours to do some research on an object that she found earlier in the day. That wasn't the unusual part. The weird part is that she hasn't come out since then, and no one I sent down there to check on her has come back."

"And you want us to go check on her?" I asked.

"Exactly. Mira, you're very skilled at combat, but I don't want you to hurt her unless worst comes to worst. Take this." She said, handing me a thick wooden hammer.

It was just now that I was aware of my surroundings. The bright marble hallways had turned into a dark, depressing staircase of some sort of black stone. We stopped at a wooden door that said "Research" on it. The door looked like it had been scorched a bit.  
I rattled the knob on the door. It was locked, just as Caroline had said.

"Laura, are you ok in there? You haven't come out for days!" I shouted through the door.

"I'm coming!" Laura's voice said from the other side. Something was up. Sure, it was Laura's voice, but it didn't sound right. There was something in her voice that wasn't there before, but I couldn't figure out what.

There was a metal clink on the door, and it opened. On the other side was Laura, looking the same as ever. Her straight white hair was wild on her head, her green eyes sparkling. Her black robe was covered in soot, and the circlet with the blue gem she wore was shifted to the left a little.

"Hey Mira! Long time no see! Come in, come in!" She said with a smile. It was too unusual. She never wore a smile just by seeing an old friend. But since I didn't know the whole situation, I went along with it.

"Laura, Caroline says you've been doing extensive research on an artifact you discovered. We came to check on you, as she said that you've been down here for days on end." I said, stepping into the room. Yugi and Caroline followed.

The room was completely smooth stone, lined with various work tables that were filled with beakers and vials. It looked more like a chemist lab than anything. Glowstone provided illumination in the ceiling, giving light to read stacks of hastily scribbled notes.

"I'm worried about you, Laura." Caroline said. I picked up the piece of paper on the stack and began to read it.

It had a diagram of what I assumed was the artifact Laura was researching. It was some sort of ring on a leather cord. Dangling from the ring were five very sharp looking prongs. In the middle of the ring was a triangle with a raised rune in the center. It looked exactly like the rune on Yugi's Puzzle. The hastily scribbled notes on the space the diagram hadn't taken up explained possible uses for the artifact, as well as some of its aspects. One paragraph in particular made my blood run cold.

_"This artifact seems to have a very strong negative energy attached to it. Nothing in my lab seems to affect it, much less destroy it. Nothing, not even lava or diamonds even scratches the surface. How such strong gold can be found is certainly puzzling. When I hold the artifact, I have an overwhelming urge to put it on. I have been able to avoid doing so for the time being, but it is unknown if and when I will succumb to this suggestion."_

No. It couldn't be the case, right? But if Yugi's Puzzle had a spirit inside it, this artifact had an equal chance of having a spirit inside it as well. While Yami had managed to make his intentions clear, he was undoubtedly a good person. What if the spirit of the ring was a malevolent one?

I looked around the room frantically for any sign of the artifact. It wasn't on any tables, and it wasn't in any cupboards, so that could only mean...!

"Yugi! Caroline! Get away from Laura!" I screamed.

"Huh? Why?" Yugi asked. He got his answer when a yellow glow emanated from Laura's chest. But the two just stood there, seemingly paralyzed. Caroline, I could understand, but why Yugi?

Regardless, I got in between Laura and he others, and pulled out my bow. It was immediately hit with a knife that came out of nowhere and buried its blade deep in the upper limb. When the glow subsided, a totally different person stood in Laura's place.

How did I know it wasn't Laura trying to kill me? Well, first of all, her eyes had changed from green to brown. Then there was the fact that her boobs were gone. But most importantly, the missing artifact was around her neck.

"You're a smart one. I haven't encountered a person who could detect my presence that quickly in a while." The man sneered. His voice was deep, but harsh.

"Who said anything about detection? I just put two and two together." I grunted, pushing against his force. He was strong, despite his wiry figure.

"Regardless, I cannot let you three leave alive. Especially you, Yugi." He grinned.

"Look, I don't care who you are, where you come from, or what your accent is. The only one dying here is you!" I said, giving a big heave in his direction. It caught him off balance and I threw a punch. He dodged it and brought his knife down. He was too quick for me to block it, and I found the knife buried into my shoulder.

I screamed as a pain unlike any other shot through my torso, making its way through the rest of my body.

"MIRA!" Yugi screamed.

I shot a look at Yugi and Caroline that screamed 'get out of here before you end up like me.'

"I have to say I'm surprised. I can't remember the last person who put up a fight." He said, kicking me on my side.

"Not that it matters anyway. You're all about to die, and your souls will burn for an eternity in the Shadow Realm!" He laughed, taking another knife off the nearest table and cornering Yugi and Caroline.

I grimaced in pain. It didn't matter whether I was going to bleed out or be murdered. If I didn't act fast, everyone died. I pulled the knife out of my shoulder and crawled towards the spirit.

"Now die, and let the Pharaoh die with you!" The spirit laughed. He raised his knife above his head... And I plunged mine into the back of his foot.

A sound like a gunshot echoed throughout the room. I smirked, even if my face wouldn't let it show. I had hit the Achilles Tendon and snapped it like a twig. His foot buckled under his weight, and blood stained his pant leg.

But I heard no scream of pain, not even a grunt. He looked down at me, seemingly annoyed.

"Feh. You mortals are stupid creatures. You think a pitiful thing like that will stop me?" He growled, trying to shake me off his foot. Though the pain in my shoulder burned like fire, I refused to let go of his leg.

"If you think I'm just going to roll over on my side and let everyone I care about die, then you're the stupid one. I didn't survive training from Hell itself to be murdered by a spirit." I hissed, twisting the blade deeper into his foot. I could make out a grimace.

"Get off of me!"

"Like hell!"

We exchanged spats like this for at least 5 minutes. I even threw the hammer at his head, which missed.

"Keh, you couldn't hit the broad side of a tomb!"

My face twisted into a gaping hole of shock. Yugi and Caroline had started to push a bookcase that was against the wall over.

"What? What are you gaping at?" He asked, turning to mimic my expression.

"HOLY MOTHER OF-"

The bookshelf crashed on top of both of us, scattering books everywhere. I felt myself being pulled by the arms out from under it.

"Mira, are you ok?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I grunted, holding my shoulder, which was still gushing blood.

"No you're not! You have a giant gash in your shoulder!" Caroline said.

"Look, I can patch myself up later. What's important is taking care of him." I said, pointing a finger at the spirit, who had started to crawl out from under the bookcase, but had gotten stuck at the waist.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF RA WAS THAT?!" He screamed. Caroline responded by picking up the hammer and striking his head as hard as she could.

"That's for possessing my sister." She growled.

I crawled over to the spirit and took the ring from around his neck. A soft yellow glow shone from the ring, and Laura turned back to her old self. She stirred and looked up at us.

"Laura, how do you feel?" I asked. She let out the loudest scream of pain in the history of humanity.

"Back to normal, I guess."


End file.
